The state government has expressed its inability to acquire the 12.5 acres of Indu Mills land in Dadar for the construction of the BR Ambedkar memorial as Union environment ministry has not given its approval.
The state government has expressed its inability to acquire the 12.5 acres of Indu Mills land in Dadar for the construction of the BR Ambedkar memorial as Union environment ministry has not given its approval. Chief minister Prithviraj Chavan has explained his government’s dilemma to the Dalit leaders stating that work on the memorial cannot being till they get final clearance from the Centre.
The Ramdas Athavale-headed Republican Party of India (RPI), which is negotiating the matter with the state, said, “The state’s delaying tactics has forced us to take our battle to the Centre.”
The RPI will hold a demonstration at Jantar Mantar, New Delhi, on Thursday to mount pressure on Centre for clearance for the long-pending memorial project in Mumbai. The party also cautioned the state government about a massive agitation outside Indu Mills on December 6.
At a meeting held with the CM in Mantralaya, the Dalit leaders expressed their disappointment over the administrative delay.”It takes them less than a 24 hours to sanction projects like Lavasa and Adarsh Society, but when we talk about the Ambedkar memorial, they throw rules at us,” Dalit writer Arjun Dangle said.
The leaders pointed out that they are not asking for “even an inch of land” unlike private projects and that the state only has to take possession of it build the memorial. Moreover, former chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh had committed to it way back in 2002.
Interestingly, all major political parties, including ruling Congress and NCP, as well as the state cabinet have given their consent for the Rs100 crore project. The biggest hurdle in the way of this project is related to possession of the Indu Mills land which is under the centrally-governed National Textile Corporation.
Various formulae have been worked out between the Centre and state. Sensing the political implications, Chavan had even gotten prime minister Manmohan Singh’s concent for Ambedkar memorial. Despite that, the hitch remains unsettled.
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